As Larsen& Toubro (L&T) chief AM Naik completed 50 years at the engineering giant he looked back on his journey and reminisced how despite not being from IIT, he still managed to land a job in the company way back in the summer of '65.
"L&T used to take students only from IIT in its GET (graduate engineering trainees) program so I couldn't come in but destiny brought me here after 18-20 months and that is how I joined on March 15, 1965, to fulfil my desire which was longstanding and 50 years have gone by as if nothing extraordinary has happened," Mr Naik told NDTV.
The L&T chief who graduated with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya Engineering college in Vallabh Vidyanagar in Gujarat still remembers the day vividly when he walked into L&T's Powai office in Mumbai for an interview.
"I clearly see my scene of the day I took a bus and came to Powai for an interview, got selected and joined and since then a lot has happened," the 72-year-old industry veteran said.
Another interesting anecdote Mr Naik shared was that when in the Powai office of L&T he sits in that same room, where he was interviewed 50 years ago.
"Even when I was a student my dream was to join L&T," he said. (Watch)
Joining the company as a junior engineer in 1965, Mr Naik rapidly rose to positions of increasing responsibility as he moved from general manager to managing director and CEO, leading to his appointment as chairman and managing director in 2003. Effective April 2012, the Board of Directors extended Mr. Naik's tenure as group executive chairman.
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